


Machination

by bluemoonmaverick



Series: Supposition [21]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M, Long-Distance Relationship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 18:57:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1910037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemoonmaverick/pseuds/bluemoonmaverick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story is part of a series that, while sticking strictly to canon, explores the theory that Sam and Jack were engaged in a clandestine romance off-screen from Season 6 onward.</p>
<p>This tag occurs during the events of Avalon, Part 1.  It picks up where the scene with Jack and Landry playing chess leaves off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Machination

**Author's Note:**

> AO3 was acting a little funky last night with respect to my last installment in this series, so if you missed my prior tag to Threads, make sure you read that first or you'll wonder what the heck happened. The good news is we're into Season 9 now, so no more Pete. (Whew!)

Landry began setting up his chess pieces again. He took a swig of beer and studied his fellow general for a moment. While Jack reset his own pieces, Landry decided that now was as good a time as any to ask the question that had been on his mind since they first began playing. "You gonna tell me why Colonel Carter really left the SGC?"

Jack paused as he picked up his King's pawn to make the first move. "She wanted to head up her own team of geeks at Area 51," he replied, without looking up. He sat the pawn down and kept his eyes on the board.

Landry huffed. "Come on, Jack. You're telling me that she wanted that more than command of SG-1?"

Jack gave him a pointed look. "That's what I'm telling you, Hank."

"Uh huh." Landry replied, clearly skeptical. He moved his own pawn. "Mitchell wants her back, you know."

Jack sighed. "Yeah?"

"He's asked her to come back."

Jack let out a grunt as he placed his King's Bishop. "Good luck to him with that."

"What do you think about it? Would you approve it?" Landry asked as he made his next move. "Area 51 is under your umbrella now, right?"

Landry had tried to ask the questions casually, but Jack was no fool. He looked up sharply at his friend through narrowed eyes. "What are you really asking me, Hank?"

Landry sat back. "All right, Jack. Rumor has it that Colonel Carter left the SGC so she could be with you. Except you got yourself promoted to Homeworld Security, which means that she's now in your chain of command again. I figure that makes it irrelevant whether she works at Area 51 versus the SGC." Landry paused, waiting for Jack to respond. When he didn't, Landry continued. "I don't give a rat's ass what's going on between the two of you, Jack, but Mitchell wants her back. And so do I." He shrugged. "If it's all the same to you, we'd like to have her rejoin SG-1."

Jack returned to studying the chess board for awhile before picking up his Queen. "It's not up to me," he said finally, setting down the piece with more force than was strictly necessary.

"I think it is."

"Nope," Jack replied decidedly. "It's up to Carter."

Landry made his next move. "And if she wants to come back to the SGC?"

"Then I'll approve it." Jack took Landry's pawn with his Queen and stood to leave. "See ya, Hank."

Landry smiled down at the chessboard, realizing that he was once again in checkmate. He shook his head and chuckled. "Bye, Jack."

oOoOoOo

Jack held the phone to his ear with his chin, as he finished taping a box. "I heard Mitchell asked you to come back to SG-1."

"He did," Sam confirmed.

"Well?"

"Well what, Jack?" He could actually hear her smiling.

"Well, what do you think? Are you interested?" he asked, exasperated.

Sam sighed. "I don't know. Part of me loves what I'm doing here. But another part of me misses it, you know?"

"Yeah," he replied with feeling. "I do." Boy did he ever. In many ways, he enjoyed his position as head of Homeworld Security, but nothing could replace the thrill of actually being in the field, particularly when said field work involved traveling through wormholes to the other side of the galaxy.

"What do you think?" she asked him, uncertainty creeping into her voice for the first time that evening.

A million responses flew through his mind. _I think I'll be insanely jealous. I think I'll miss you beyond reason when you're away on a mission. I think I'll die a little every time you step through that Stargate without me there to watch over you._ "I think I'll support whatever you want to do."

The other end of the line was quiet for so long, Jack thought he'd lost the connection. Just as he began to pull the phone away from his ear to look at it, she spoke. "I love you, Jack."

Jack swallowed hard over the lump in his throat. He still had a hard time with the unexpected level of emotion she brought out in him. "Yeah, about that. Hank knows." He hoped she didn't hear how rough his voice had become.

"You told him?" she asked, surprised.

"He guessed."

"Oh?" she asked, and the amusement was back. "You think it's that obvious?"

He huffed. "Maybe. There've been rumors about us for years. It just so happens that this time they're true. But regardless, if you go back, I'll have to tell him. You okay with that?"

"I'm okay with that."

"Hey Sam?"

"Yes?"

"I love you, too," he said quietly.

They said their goodbyes, and he let out a long sigh. He missed his wife. It was crazy that in order for them to be together, she'd had to move away. But it had been the only solution they could come up with that allowed them to have a legitimate relationship and stay in the Air Force.

They had told only a handful of people the real reason for Sam's transfer to Area 51, though he knew almost everyone at the SGC suspected. Fortunately, one of those people had been General Hammond, who had recommended that they make their relationship legally binding as soon as possible, probably because he knew what was coming.

Sure enough, not two weeks after the small ceremony at the cabin, the President had called Jack to offer him Hammond's job. Jack had declined, citing the inherent conflict of interest. He'd thought that would put an end to the matter, but the President had agreed to make an exception that allowed Sam to keep her position, on the condition that they kept their relationship quiet. Jack still hadn't decided if the whole thing was a blessing or a curse.

He'd thought keeping their marriage a secret was going to be difficult, but as it turned out, that was the easy part. After all, they'd had lots of practice. No, the hardest part was being separated from her, and the thought that she might be returning to the field without him caused his stomach to knot.

He looked around at the boxes stacked around his mostly empty house. God, he hated selling it, especially since it meant he was leaving Colorado Springs for good. And especially now that it looked like she was moving back.

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently, it is possible to win a game of chess in only four moves. It involves the other player being neither good nor lucky, or just inattentive. But, if the stars are aligned, it can work.
> 
> Here are Jack's chess moves:
> 
> King's pawn to E3  
> King's Bishop to C4  
> Queen to F3  
> Queen takes pawn at F7 to put opponent in checkmate


End file.
